Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

Dillon Bread Company
451-C Ryder Street, Vallejo
707-557-3525
Monday- Friday
8 a.m ? 2 p.m.

The Dillon Bread Company takes the art of sandwich making to a new height in a cozy narrow room filled with an eclectic assortment of memorabilia and mismatched tables across the street from Vallejo Sanitation and Flood Control District offices.

Dillon?s sandwiches start with freshly made bread. On the day we visited, the choices were wheat, sourdough or beer walnut. We both tried the beer walnut. It was moist and made an excellent accompaniment to the fillings. The woman we spoke with, owner, Kathy Maddry, was serious about the type of beer used for this recipe. She knows what makes good bread.

The Spring 2006 menu consists of salads, beverages, and three pages of sandwiches, each with a creative name and a list of fillings. The vegetarian selection starts with the classic ?Clair?s PB & J,? creamy peanut butter and grape jelly, and builds in complexity to ?The Eggplant Club-A-Dub-Dub,? grilled eggplant, avocado, lettuce, tomato & jack cheese with tequila-jalapeno mustard on toast.

The meat-eater?s selection similarly begins with the familiar; ?Skinny William?s Favorite Turkey,? consists of fresh roasted turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and mustard. There are also ham or salame sandwiches, as well as the traditional BLT.

My partner tried one of the more exotic meat sandwiches, ?The VFD Cobb Salad Sandwich,? a hearty layering of ham, bacon, avocado, egg, tomato, and lettuce with mayonnaise and mustard. It was a flavorful and filling mix.

Grilled sandwiches are another extensive category. Vegetarian selections are well covered here too, with selections such as ?Danny?s Almost Reuben,? roasted eggplant, sauerkraut, Russian dressing and Swiss grilled on rye, and ?Kathy?s Grill,? avocados, tomatoes, red onion and Swiss, grilled with pesto. Meat-eaters also have a big selection of grilled sandwiches such as ?The Paige Boy,? Cajun chicken breast, avocado and Swiss with sun-dried tomato dressing.

A few sandwiches resist easy categorization. ?Not Like Your Mama?s Egg Salad,? is an egg salad with sun-dried tomatoes, capers and tarragon. ?Tuna Tropicale,? is a blend of spices, veggies and fruits, mixed with tuna on lettuce. I tried ?The Casbah,? a hand-made baked falafel patty with avocado, red onion, tomato & lettuce with a lemon-tahini spread. Although the red onion overwhelmed the more subtle flavors, the combination was a success.

Salads get a similar treatment. The selection includes the familiar and the more creative. The choice of salad dressing includes Ranch, Italian, Poppy Seed, Cajun, Caesar or Jet Fuel.

Every Wednesday, Dillon?s hosts a ?Haute Stuff? lunch special. On a previous Wednesday, the special included a taco salad, chocolate snack cake and a drink.

Our biggest disappointment was with our espresso drinks. The espresso was thin and burned, the steamed milk soapy. However there are many other drinks to choose from including homemade lemonade, three different types of hot chocolate, and fountain drinks.

The extensive menu gives people who work nearby plenty from which to choose. The homemade touches make this place worth the drive.

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